Iced Earth originally started talking about a new album back in August, and turns out they were further along than we originally assumed, because one month later the album has a release date. It's like they're magic or something… and now we have information about it.
I'm interested to hear what direction Iced Earth go in now that this is their second album with vocalist Stu Block, since Dystopia was pretty good (but there's always room to be heavier) considering it was their first album with him. According to vocalist and guitarist Jon Schaffer:
"This is a seriously heavy album with a seriously brutal album cover. I'm sure it will go down as a classic in the epic Iced Earth catalog."
It's like Schaffer knows me or something. Anyway, the album will be out in January 2014 through Century Media. Here's the track list for the record, if you're interested in hearing track names without knowing any of the music:
01. Plagues Of Babylon 02. Democide 03. The Culling 04. Among The Living Dead 05. Resistance 06. The End? 07. If I Could See You 08. Cthulhu 09. Peacemaker 10. Parasite 11. Spirit Of The Times 12. Highwayman
That artwork is so cheerful. Look at the big smile the dom king dude has while he holds all his zombie gimps in one hand and his septor in the other. It's like the start of every BDSM gay orgy ever if it became undead.